Lifesaving suit



July 10, 1945, r 1H H LDIN 2,379,963

LIFE SAVING SUIT Filed March 14, 1944 IN VEN TOR.

Patented July 10,1945

to the occupant. l yVarious other objects. and advantages will be a lasraeesfl i i Q "HarryIHoldingrHamden, Conn. I v ApplicationMarchl l,1944;, Serial1 No.526,384 eas (sire-+24) t This invention relatesto onepiece life saving suits and hasfor itsobject to provide a novel andimproved elosureutherefon. l

Another object of the invention-isto and eflicient means for effecting awaterproof closure of the entrance opening atthetop or neck portion ofthe garmentiw; 1 1 C i Still another object iszto provide an adjustablewaterproof closure of .thetype specified, which provide a lifesavingsuit of the above typewith a simple is easy to. manipulate under.the most adverse 'conditions and enables the garment to be worn withadded comfort and freedom of movement apparent as the nature of the.invention is more fullytdisclosed.

i Life saving suitsof thextypeto which will vention relates are commonlyconstructed in. one

piece,including a body portion, legs with I attached boots, and sleevesterminating in mittens or gloves, and the single entrance opening atthetop or neck portion of the garment is usually closed by a drawstring.after the garment is in place.

These drawstring closures, as heretofore constructed, have beenunsatisfactory not only because of the danger of breaking, but alsobecause the drawstrings tend to swell and stick after prolonged exposureto sea aireven whenthe suit has never been used. Still more serious,however, is

the fact that the entrance opening, which is gath ered in to form theneck band of the suit when closed, is necessarily large, and, with theconventional drawstrings heretofore employed in I garments of this type,there isa decided tendency for the fabric to bunch up unevenly and formchannels for the ingress of water and also to cause considerablelocalirritation and discomfort to the wearer.

The present invention largely avoids the foregoing disadvantages of theprior art by providing the entrance opening of a union life saving topform a-relatively high snugfitting collar which not only excludeswater: but further utilizes the i overlapping folds of thecollar; as.,a;cushion,gall

to the increased comfortiand safety of. the wearer;

mauAlthough the. novelfeatures which are. char-:

acteristic of thisinvention areset forth more in detail. in; the claimappended hereto, the nature and1 scope ofthe invention may .be betterunderi stood byyreferringy to the following description, taken inconnection! with. the, accompanying drawing forming a partthereof,in'which a specificembodiment has been set forth for purposes ofillustration;;: U

mm the drawing:.

Fig.1 is a frontviewof a life savingf iiiteiiibodyingtheinvention,-showing same on the body before closing theyentrance iopening Fig-r12israfragmentary front view showing the .upper part of thesuit with material at the neo gathered to form the plaited collar; i

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional View taken on 3-3 of Fig. 2, showing theinterior of theplaited and i .Fig. 4. is a transverse sectional viewtaken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 3. p i

In "the following descriptioncertain specific terms are usedforconvenience in referring. to the various details of the invention.These terms, however, are to be interpreted as broadly as the state ofthe art will permit.

In the drawing, Fig. 1 shows a one-piece life saving suit ofconventional type comprising. a body portion I with integral legs 2terminatingin boots 3, and with sleeves 4 terminating in gloves 5.

The suit is provided with a neck entrance opening fi of suitable size topermit entrance of the collar and the construction of the sliding clasp;

' bodyof the wearer. The suit is made of any suitablewaterproof materialsuchas rubber-im-.

pregnated fabric or neoprene, and it envelops the body from feet to neckas illustrated.

According to a feature of the invention, the

portion of the garment immediately surrounding the entrance opening 6 isformed of balloon cloth or other suitable soft, pliablewaterproofmaterial which is lighter and more flexiblethan the remainder of thesuit, and the edge bordering upon said opening 6 is doubled over toprovide which may be readily grasped by the gloved 3 hand of theoperator and also serve as a limiting stop for the sliding clasp memberI l) which trally disposed roller l2 which is mounted in slots 1.

I3 in the sides of the slider and is provided with a leaf spring M whichurges the roller l2 toward the small end of the wedge-shaped body.Tithe-- two branches of the flat band 8 are strung through the member IDon opposite sides of the roller I 2, and the tension of spring 14 on the'roller normally clamps the flat sides of the band 8 between the rollerand the sides of the member ID as illustrated in Figs. 3-and 4. v

- When the wearer dons the suit as shown in Fig. 1, he grasps the knobs9' with one gloved hand and then simply grasps the'clasp member 10 withthe other hand and slides it upwardly on the draw band 8 until theentrance opening 6 is closed. The clasp member 10 readily slides up inthis manner because the traction of the band 8 on roller [2 forces theroller inwardly against the tension of spring l4 and thus permitsmovement of the clasp. When the wearer desires to loosen the neck hemerely grasps the clasp with one hand in such a manner that his glovedfingers span the projecting ends ofroller l2 and force the rollerdownwardly in the slots l3 against the tension of spring M, the downwardmovement of the operators hand simultaneously serving to slide the claspmember on the draw band 8.

' ranged to be gripped by a gloved hand for releas- When the claspmeniber I0 is moved upwardly on the draw band 8 to close the entranceopening 6 of the suit, the opening 6 decreases in diameter as thesurrounding material is gathered in to form the neck band or collar ofthe garment. As this operation takes place, the wide band 8, which ispreferably at least inch wide, acts as a shaping form which guides thesoft pliable material about the opening 6 into a continuous series ofuniform fold-s or plaits l5, as

shown inFigs. 2-4. When theopening 6- is finally narrowed to fit theneck of the wearer the band 8,. surrounded by the nested folds of thefabric, forms. an upstanding snug-fitting collar which preventstheingress of water and furthermore utilizes the soft pliable folds of thefabric as a cushion to improve the seal and comfort of the wearer.

Itis to be understood that the above example is' only illustrative andthat various changes and to increase the modifications may be madetherein without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention asdefined in the appended claim.

What is claimed is: v

A life saving suit having an enlarged neck opening bordered by softpliable material containing a marginal hem, a flat relatively wide drawband strung through said hem for gathering said material to form asnug-fitting upstanding collar, and a sliding clasp member tracking onsaid draw band said clasp being freely slidable in a direction totighten said band and having a releasable spring-pressed rollerfrictionally engaging the flat sides of said band'for gripping the sameto prevent loosening of said band, said roller having release meansext-ending beyond said clasp on opposite sides and 'aring said band byan outward pull.

HARRY HOLDING.

